In Loving Memory...

Sister Marie Bernard, CSC
(Mildred Marcella Hill)
Birth: November 7, 1915
Profession: August 15, 1936
Death: May 9, 2005

Sister Marie Bernard was affectionately called “The Little Nun” by five staff students at Saint Mary’s Academy, Twyckenham Hills, South Bend, Indiana, in the 1950s. I am one of those students.

Sister Marie Bernard, Mildred Marcella Hill, was born in Kokomo, Indiana, on November 7, 1915, to Leonard Hill and Evelyn Dluzak. She had a brother, Harold, who died at age 57. Her sister Joanne died at two months of age. Her beloved sister Ann Marie died in 1999. Ann Marie was five years younger than Marie, and Marie always called her “my little doll.” They were very close and when Ann Marie suffered in her last years, Sister Marie Bernard offered her continual patience and love.

Sister Marie entered Holy Cross in 1934 and was befriended by Sister Irma, who helped prepare her for entrance. Due to a negative experience in high school, Marie never wanted to pursue teaching herself but rather spent her ministry working in convents, boarding schools and retirement homes, offering hospitality, an efficient household and providing that Holy Cross gracious welcome wherever she lived. And that is where we met in 1952. I was a staff student at Saint Mary’s Academy, and Sister Marie was in charge of the staff students. For four wonderful years we had this loving, kind and gentle “Little Nun” (at the time almost 6 feet tall) who listened to us patiently through every teenage crisis imaginable, especially the heartaches of dating Notre Dame freshmen. According to records, Marie served there for 14 years assisting and loving young girls from many parts of the world, as well as “day students” from the South Bend area. It was amazing as I look back that she never tired of us, with her smiling, laughing eyes, offering caring questions to assist us in answering our own “crisis” situations, which were very frequent.

This same spirit was part of Marie’s presence at the student infirmary at the University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross House, Saint Joseph High School Convent, Our Lady of Holy Cross Convent and here at Saint Mary’s Convent. From 1992 to the present, her poetry, painting and faithful prayer ministry have been daily given through pain, laughter, telling of jokes and her great joy when someone stopped in to visit. There was a student at Saint Mary’s, Kara Kezios, I’m told, who visited her regularly for four years and brought her family to meet Marie. She, too, enjoyed, I’m sure, the bond of friendship that the early staff students felt years ago.

Marie viewed life with a clarity and beauty I’d love to acquire. Her paintings and poetry reflect a simplicity and inner peace that blend with the awe and wonder she knew of her Creator. Here is a brief poem written by Sister Marie that I’d like to share with you:

A Bird
You are in there, about every morning, sitting on a small
Limb in the highest tree.
Landing across from me.
When you fly away, the branch of the tree flies up and down,
As though you are too heavy a load.
Then tomorrow there you are again
Looking down at me.
(Written February 2000)

Marie loved angels and drew them often for Lee Ann Moore, activity director. And one of the health care givers on the fifth floor told me Marie felt at times she was like Mary Poppins. Someone would lift her into the blue sky as she held onto an umbrella and then bring her back down to earth. Well, we know Marie that our God has opened Her umbrella, and gathered you up for the last time and taken you home. What a glorious reunion you must be having with your family, especially Ann Marie, your “little doll.” Hold us all in your prayer and loving heart.

Written by Sister Judith Ann Murphy, CSC

Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of the Holy Cross Ministry With the Poor Fund, Saint Mary’s, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556.